AAA Annual Meeting Program Details

PARTICIPATION, ACCESSIBILITY, AND INCLUSION: STRATEGIES AND GOALS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE, THE CASE STUDY OF THE LEBANESE PHYSICAL HANDICAPPED UNION (LPHU)

Author:

MOHAMMED LOUTFY (The American University)

Date/Time:

Wed., 8:15 PM

Co-Author(s):

MOHAMMED LOUTFY (The American University)

Abstract:

The participatory approach pursued by the Lebanese Physical Handicapped Union (LPHU) has not only affected the situation of people with disabilities, but also the whole societal perspective on disability. Briefly, throughout its movement, the Lebanese Physical Handicapped Union has gone beyond the dependence on efforts of its disabled members and friends. It rather worked successfully on creating a nationwide platform of different social and economic groups and expertise in the country. This participatory approach has been based on a strong belief that social justice for people with disabilities cannot be fulfilled unless the whole society would be part of and benefitting from the process of accessibility and inclusion. Thereby, every single activity, whether it has been in the field of advocacy, awareness raising, and capacity building, LPHU targets the broader society in order to make sure that everyone should benefit from these three strategies/rights (participation, accessibility, and inclusion). This presentation will shed the light on two projects of LPHU that has proven to reflect on this approach: 1. The Emergency and relief Programs: an advocacy and service based program aimed at ensuring the inclusivity of disaster management operations and policies for people with disabilities during and after the Israeli attack on Lebanon in July 2006. 2. The Build for All Program: a program that tried to take an advantage of the reconstruction process that were conducted after the July war in order to ensure the integration of accessibility criteria into newly constructed public and private buildings.